Gov’t files $25B mortgage settlement in court

WASHINGTON – The government filed in federal court Monday a $25 billion settlement with the five largest mortgage lenders, putting an official stamp on the landmark agreement over alleged foreclosure abuses.

The court papers offered few new details on the deal between the federal government, 49 states and Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Ally Financial Inc. The deal was first announced last month.

Banks will pay roughly $20 billion to help borrowers avoid foreclosure. Most of that will go toward reducing loans for about 1 million of the 11 million U.S. households that owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.

The banks will also pay $5 billion in cash to the federal and state governments. About a third of that money will go into a fund to be used for sending $2,000 checks to about 750,000 Americans who were improperly foreclosed upon from 2008 through 2011.

The banks will have to complete 75 percent of their loan relief requirements within two years and 100 percent within three years.

The banks did not admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement. Federal and state law-enforcement authorities could still pursue criminal action against them, the government says.

If a bank violates a requirement of the agreement, it would face penalties of as much as $1 million for each violation or up to $5 million for some repeat violations.

The settlement, reached after nearly a year and a half of contentious negotiations, is subject to the approval of a federal judge in Washington.

It is the largest settlement involving a single industry since the $206 billion multistate tobacco deal in 1998.

But consumer advocates have said far too few people will benefit. The deal applies only to privately held mortgages and not to those owned by mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Banks own about half of all U.S. mortgages, or about 30 million loans. Fannie and Freddie own the other half.

The banks will be required to make foreclosure their last resort. They won’t be allowed to foreclose on a homeowner who is being considered for a loan modification. The new standards are aimed at preventing recent abuses by banks such as lost paperwork and so called robo-signing – the practice of employees signing papers they hadn’t read or using fake signatures to speed foreclosures.

About 75 percent of the settlement money will go to California and Florida, two of the states hardest hit by the housing crisis and the ones with the most underwater homeowners.